Planet Savers blog

I’m not sure whether to rejoice or scream!

The National Geographic reports that the EU’s farm chief has suggested allowing misshapen fruit and veg into the supermarkets in order to help with the food crisis.

When I was a kid, I remember noticing that the misshapen fruits and veggies were usually the sweetest and tastiest. Somewhere along the way supermarkets decided that only those that fitted the packaging were ‘perfect’ and we lost out on the fun of ‘eating the knobbly bits first!’

So I rejoice in the fact that the issue has been raised. But I scream because of the question it raises: If allowing misshapes into the supermarkets is going to help with the food crisis and keep costs down,  what has been happening to the misshapen fruit and veg all these years? I’d kind of assumed that is was all going into some other process like soup or tins. But this item seems to suggest that we have been discarding it.

Does anyone have the answer to this?

Each day I read the climate change news delivered via RSS feed from Climate Ark, or Science Daily or One World UK and so on. After the Stern Report and then the IPCC report, the news was fascinating as various suggestions and innovations were put forward that looked as though we were going to change our way of living on this planet.

These days it is a continuous stream of information about the way biofuels have distorted the lives of thousands, causing starvation and poverty in various parts of the globe.

Last night I watched a film called Peak Oil. It was put on by the Berkhamsted Transition Towns group. It explains clearly why oil prices are rising. Demand has outstripped supply – and the supply is running out and will never meet the demand.

Instead of looking to biofuels as a replacement fuel, we should be looking for ways of living sustainably. It is a tall order. We need to reconnect with our own planet and each other. Start working together in our communities for the general good. We need to relearn old technology and find ways to improve it. And we can do this with the benefit of today’s hindsight and innovative technique.

Chesham will soon be forming its own Transition Group. Many have already shown an interest and an initial meeting will be held in July. There are now about 700 towns like this, all looking to make a change. We cannot wait for the government to impose changes. It is down to us at local level to do something for ourselves.

And there is much we can do :>)

I’ve been a bit quiet lately. That’s because my mother has just moved house so there has been much to do helping her sort things out. But it gave rise to a couple of interesting purchases.

Her new home has a couple of small lawns and she wanted a light weight push mower rather than plugging in the hover she bought from the old house. this led us to The Green Warehouse where we found a neat little mower just right fora small lawn.

Whilst looking at the site we saw a rather interesting shower head, too. It oxygenates the water which makes it feel as strong as an all water shower but in fact you are using, they say, 75% less water. We fitted it a couple of days ago and I am really pleased with the results. It is also very obvious that I am using less water. The bath is not filling up as it used to and there is far less splashing. It feels great, too.